OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Coppa Girl has struggled to clear the first-level allowance condition, going winless in five tries since winning her maiden last summer at Ellis Park. In what looks to be a now-or-never spot for her, Coppa Girl heads an eight-horse field of fillies and mares entered Sunday in a first-level allowance-optional $50,000 claiming event going 1 1/8 miles that serves as the feature on Aqueduct’s nine-race card. Coppa Girl’s best effort in this condition came at this distance here on Dec. 16, when she set the pace and battled back after being passed by She’s Mo Bubbly only to fall a half-length short at the wire. Coppa Girl did finish 4 1/2 lengths clear of the third-place finisher that day. Coppa Girl came back on Jan. 14 in this same condition going a one-turn mile and finished third as the 3-5 favorite. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. “Brad [Cox] and I both think she might prefer this mile-and-an-eighth distance a little better,” Dustin Dugas, the Belmont Park-based assistant to trainer Brad Cox, said. “She’s doing good, training well. She’s always been a nice little filly to work with. I loved her race a couple of starts back where she battled back the whole stretch.” Manny Franco, aboard for the last effort, will ride Coppa Girl from the outside post on Sunday. If Coppa Girl can’t get the job done Sunday, then among those who may upset is Sweet Mystery. A 5-year-old daughter of Cupid trained by Pat Quick, Sweet Mystery stretches back out to 1 1/8 miles, a distance at which she was beaten a neck against New York-breds in Saratoga. “She loves to go long, she’s training great, she looks great, she’s going to run a good race,” said Quick, who has two winners from eight starters at the meet. Toned Up, trained by Rob Atras, and Essaouira, trained by Rick Dutrow Jr., comprise a coupled entry, as Michael Dubb has significant ownership percentages in the females who are both in for the $50,000 claiming price. Toned Up finished second to favored Just Katherine in a second-level allowance at this distance in December, but she is only 4 for 40 lifetime. Essaouira comes out of a seventh-place finish going seven furlongs in her first start for Dutrow on Dec. 14. Linda Rice sends out the uncoupled entry of I Feel the Need and Mytown Myrules. Rayya Valentine and Caragate complete the field. Doc Sullivan targets Gander Doc Sullivan, one of the few current New York-based 3-year-olds nominated to the Triple Crown, will make his next start the $100,000 Gander Stakes for New York-breds on Feb. 25. A son of Solomini, Doc Sullivan has won two of three starts including a first-level allowance for statebreds by seven lengths on Jan. 19. That race was at one mile, the same distance of the Gander. “That was always my thought with this horse, that he would go long,” trainer Mike Miceli said. “First time we ran him, he was third; the dirt got to hitting him and he was climbing. The next time he got it together a little more and won. Then he came back the other day going a mile and won quite easily and impressively.” Doc Sullivan earned an 82 Beyer Speed Figure for his allowance win. Miceli, who as a jockey in 1974 rode Hudson County Stakes to a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, didn’t rule out trying an open-company stakes following the Gander. “That’s kind of a long-range plan, but we’ll just go a step at a time,” Miceli said. “We’ll see how he does in the Gander and go from there. I would say we’re going to try and roll on with the New York program and see where that goes and figure that one out later.” Lightline, possibly Bergen, to Gotham Lightline, third as the favorite in the Grade 3 Withers Stakes on Feb. 3, will point for the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham here on March 2, Dugas, said Friday. He may be joined by his stablemate Bergen, winner of the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes. In the Withers, Lightline was beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Uncle Heavy and El Grande O, who were noses apart at the wire. Dugas didn’t think it was a distance issue that impacted Lightline in the Withers. “No excuses. Manny [Franco] had him in a great spot the whole time, he just came up third best,” Dugas said. Dugas said Bergen suffered a minor foot injury, known as a grabbed quarter, in his 5 1/4-length victory in the Jimmy Winkfield Stakes here on Jan. 27. Dugas said Bergen was expected to return to the work tab over the weekend. “He pulled off a shoe. His foot was a little sore, naturally,” Dugas said. “He’s doing good now.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.